Hanoi: 3 Days Ninh Binh, Ha Long & Lan Ha Bay Azura Cruise

I booked a 3D2N Ninh Binh & Halong Bay tour (March 15) for two people. The tour did not meet expectations based on what was advertised, and I was not satisfied with the overall service experience. After the trip, I requested a refund due to the issues encountered. The company refused to provide any refund or meaningful resolution. During follow-up communication regarding my request, I also received an inappropriate message stating that my passport information would be shared publicly if I did not respond. This was highly concerning and not acceptable customer service behavior. Based on my experience, I would not recommend this company.

The pictures are for illustrative purposes only lol. I highly recommend getting a nice place on land and exploring at your own pace or hire a guide and you'll still spend less but get alot more from the trip. Highlights were the bamboo boats, our quick stay at the King Kong homestay. Also the one nice thing about the "cruise" was our dinner and meeting Rosie. I'm trying to write a balanced review but there were just so many things that were misrepresented. Although we had an okay time, we felt like we lost 3 days that could have been much better spent in this beautiful country.

Well organized trip. Pickup @ hotel by Leo, punctual and informative. Welcomed by Tom @Eco Lodge, helpful and very friendly. Mr. Ha was the manager of Aspira, very patient and source of information.

Hieu Milano: All arrangements are very good. Specially dood was awesome, we liked it very much. Some joyful events can added if possible to have more fun.

Mr Tuan is a very kind, friendly and experienced tour guide. He knows well on the history of Halong Bay, please have your trip with Lavender cruise to experience the scenery in Halong Bay. Highly recommend 😀

- Whole experience very good - Ninh Binh trip very nice and worth visiting - Ninh Binh stay in ecolodge very comfortable - Cruise was nice, our room on ship big and with bath - Drivers could be better (timing, english speaking)

We were absolutely blown away by our experience with Aspira. This cruise really solidified the beauty of Vietnam and Ha Long Bay. We were treated with so much kindness by our hosts, especially Alex who picked us up and made sure ever need was exceeded when we were on the boat. Couldn’t recommend enough. This was truly luxury.

Had a lovely time on the Aspira cruise, amazing cabins and very friendly staff! A special mention for our host Alex who was very accomodating and personable.

First, VERY highly suggest doing the 3 day/2 night cruise. WORTH IT! The shorter itinerary looked rushed. The Aspira boat was fantastic. One of the nicer boats you’ll see out in the bay without being a gigantic cruise liner. The staff is amazing and will go out of their way for their customers. Our booking agent Johnny was exemplary as well. The accommodations on board were lovely. The activities were also SO fun. Loved biking Cat Ba and kayaking in the bay. A cruise is truly the best way to fully experience Halong. The food was only okay. Rather disappointed given the rest of the amazing features of this cruise. Also, when they say drinks not included, they mean ALL drinks. They give you one tiny water bottle per night and then you have to pay for the rest at highly inflated prices. They don’t even give you water at meals. That felt very wrong to me. Overall I’d go again in a heartbeat. I’d just bring myself water and snacks for the journey.

Lovely experience! Alex was the best guide I’ve ever had! Great man! The food was really good and activities were also fun. 10/10 recommend! Best cruise I’ve been on.

We stayed 2d1n on the lavender cruise. All the staff took care us very nice. Memorable is bobby our tour guide . He is so friendly and helpful. Thank you

I stay in ha long bay on the lavender cruise. The room was nice and the food was good. All the staffs on the cruise were helpful and friendly. My tourguide bobby took care all the guests very well . I will recomend with my friends. I caught 1 kg squid and i let it back to the sea. So funny activity

We had a great trip in Ha Long Bay. Our guide was Luc, and he was very helpful. The cave was amazing and we got a lot of information thanks to our great guide Luc! He was very welcome and made the overall trip very pleasant! Food on board was good, and more than enough.

Great to enjoy this awesome during our wonderful Holiday in 2020. Alex and other cruise staff are friendly. Shall visit again

Alex and Crew are very kind, helpful towards us.it is a very very memorable trip brought by them and the Ha Long scenery is very nice in Ha Long Bay.

Very enjoyable trip. Alex was very helpful. Interesting places, very comfortable boat. Good food, good services.

The Ha long bay trip us amazing. The sights are incredible. The meals are delicious. The crew was very helpful. Alex, our guide, was very knowledgeable and spoke excellent English. He was with us from our hotels to the bay and back to our hotels. He is an excellent guide and made our trip even better!

We booked this tour with the understanding that we will have a bus pick up and take us to Halong and make some stops on the way, but then when we were on bus, the company asked for $20usd/per for bus round trip. I was so suprised and felt forced to pay for it. The information of the tour was so difficult to understand what was going on. We booked a double bed and told them we are on our honeymoon, and then they gave us 2 single beds joined together with 2 sperate blankets. So we had to sleep in 2 beds. It is unacceptable. This is a really bad experience with this cruise. Staff are good, management are absolutely shocking. AC is for decorating not for using. Don't use this service.

Very beautiful ha long must visit, speciaally Minh amazing guide Should come with family to visit In lavender cruise

Minh was the best guide i had And the trip was amazing loved the view All the people are helpful and loved the cruise

Our tour guide Alex was really helpful and spoke very good English. The food for vegetarians can be improved.

It was a well organized, beautiful, clean and friendly cruise. The activities were fun and entertaining. Alex was really nice and funny.

Our tour guide was fun and interesting! The cruise is best if you want to lay down and relax in the middle of the ocean - serene!

A remarkable cruise of a world heritage site. The tour and the service were flawless. Most memorable was the tour guide/cooking instructor/kayak expert Alex who took amazing care of everything in our diverse group. His many kindnesses are an amazing reflection of the Vietnamese people

Loved the cruise! Alex was an absolute delight and he made the whole experience so much better. He cracked us up the whole way with his crazy sense of humour. Great food, great staff! The food was really good. Love the whole deal! Definitely recommend.

Alex was a blast! He was funny and sweet. Absolutely recommend to go on this cruise. The best cruise experience with Alex.

wonderful environment and entertainment by the crew. talented tour guide. hotel on the cruise ship is well kept.

We had nice time in ha long ,the weather was quite Clody and small raning ,but it is fun for hikking titolo island The food very good and fresh sragiona We enjoy the trip ,thank you

Spent one night and two half days cruising along halong bay with lavender cruises with Alex as our tour guide. He's very knowledgeable with a good sense of humour, very good at finding ways to avoid major crowds and always happy to take photos. This is very useful as when crowds were unavoidable they were stifling. All in all we had a good time with a few memorable moments and a taste of a good range of foods. 10/10 would cruise again.

Very comfortable and well organized tour. Alex is an exceptional tour guide- he is very accommodating and knowledgable with his information on the surrounding area. The boat is very spacious and so are the rooms. Lots of choices for food and drinks, with food made fresh daily. Many options for activities as well and the staff are all well spoken and easy to understand. I would highly recommend this tour,especially for students as it is also a bargain!

Thanks Peter and Lavender Cruise for taking us to the good spots in Halong bay. The cruise was comfortable and the local Vietnamese food was delicious 😋

Very worthwhile!!!! Alex was a great guide and was very knowledgeable. The extra activities were lots of fun and the food was delicious - would highly recommend.

Me& my wife to a 2 day cruise on Levender Cruise on Halong Bay. It was a memorable experience for me & my wife. Our guide Alex took great care of us. The facilities on board were excellent. The food was excellent with plenty of drinks. The excursion to the Caves and the visit to the cultured pearls making facility was also great.

A great memorable trip , beautiful view around the bay, a must visit place. Highly recommended cruise trip.

Overall, my experience on lavender was more than forgettable and I would recommend anyone to book a different company if they are coming here. The guide: Our guide was Peter. He was absolutely terrible. Using the word tour guide for him is a very loose interpretation of that word. He spent almost all the time on the boat just sitting on his phone. He never communicated any of the plans to us, literally no one knew what was happening cause he just sat on his phone and didn’t talk to anyone. Us being on the boat seemed like an imposition to him. When we did get somewhere, say a cave or hike, he had no knowledge whatsoever of the sites or just didn’t care to share. The only time he was eager to talk was right at the end of the tour as he handed out tip envelopes for people to tip him. On top of that, he handed out review cards, to review the service, and he legitimately stood over top of you watching what you wrote. It was so awkward and so unprofessional. The tour and activities: Unless you like being packed into somewhere like a herd of cattle, I can’t see how you’d enjoy any of the activities. They felt like they weren’t thorough at all and we really didn’t enjoy any of them as the nature was snuffed our by a million tourists The other things such as the “cooking class” was legitimately just watching one to two guests roll a rice wrap to make a spring roll. The end. The food: Meh, not horrible but not great. I can’t eat gluten and they legitimately had no idea. They kept making dishes with wheat and saying it’s not gluten it’s wheat... there gluten free alternative was just hand peeling off breading from deep fried squid. Two takeaways. One, this company stinks, book with anyone else. Peter is a terrible guide. Two, halong bay IMO is not even worth a visit. The beauty is wiped out by herds of tourists. Go to ninh binh, or anywhere else.

We had a wonderful experience staying in lavender cruise.Stay, food, activities were all excellent. Peter was our guide and he made the stay really comfortable.

We stayed for 2 days and 1 night aboard the Lavender Cruise ship. We were pleasantly surprised by the size of the room and the kind staff that greeted us. The food was decent and had a chance to meet some great folks from around the globe. The tours were, unfortunately, quite crowded (though not at all the fault of our guide), but worth noting for future travelers to be weary of. Our guide, Peter, did a great job sharing tidbits of knowledge with us throughout our tour. The shuttle ride was perhaps the least comfortable of the experience as the seats were tiny and AC limited. Other than that, we had a great time!

, we came to halong bay with our friends, Lavender cruises is great company, everything is perfect. Alex is great tour guide

The guide Alex is a friendly boy!! I recomend this boat! The food its really nice and abundant. The best, that its a small boat and its really peacefull

We a great time the trip Amazing food. We like Tradition good in vietnam Peter was funny and knowlagle I enjoy trhe Trip

Overall it was a great cruise, and we thoroughly enjoyed the boat, the food and the fantastic views. The trip to Ti-Top Island was full of tourists, I can only imagine how much worse it would have been at peak time. I have to say that I was not impressed with Peter, he spoke for 10 minutes on the bus when we were first collected, but after that he did not really say much. I saw other tours when visiting the caves and the island, and their guides were fully involved with their groups, speaking to them and taking photos. Did not have that experience with Peter. I read so much about Bobby, and wished we had him. We met a couple that had him the night before and said he was fantastic, which was a shame. They also did not put any music on in the evening after dinner, which I found bizarre, as it meant a lot of people went to bed.

I like a lot this experience! The staff, the cruise and the food was very great.tour peter was friendly and helpful

Excellent tour with amazing environment. The food is great and have a lot of nice options to tours to do. The guide Peter is funny and very good!

Great of Halong Bay, climbing, kayaking and exploring the caves. Food was incredible and the rooms were surprisingly high quality. Bit of karaoke and dancing at night with good cocktails. Peter our tour guide was really knowledgeable also! Would recommend

We have a great time with the Lavender Cruise!food was amazing on board and our guide Arrow was awesome! We had a beautiful chat about buddhisme which was really inspiring!

De has a nice trip on the lavender cruise . Ali the Star and your cuide sere very good the good das ferry good . I will come black ver time

Lovely little get away from the city. Picked up from our hostel, a stop for bathrooms at a very touristy stop. The cruise boat was wonderful, the views were astounding, and our guide (Bobby) was excellent - funny, great English, and very accommodating. Some of the stops were full of people (the swimming was quite sketchy) but we really enjoyed our trip and would recommend it to a couple on a budget like ourselves.

The price was good as we booked through booking.com and got genius discount. The weather was excellent on our stay. The activities were good although we would prefer longer to kayak and more swimming, perhaps in a different location as there was a large volume of trash in the water where we swam. The boat was nice and the room was good although not like the pictures (to be expected in Vietnam). The food was excellent and the portions were large, our only issue was the sharing aspect. We wouldn’t mind had we have had nicer people to share with but they were very rude and continually asked to move elsewhere and were obnoxious. If you get nice people to sit with I imagine this aspect is a nice experience. A special commendation to the lady who worked on the bar who never failed to smile and was extremely polite and attentive.

HaLong Bay is very nice. Tour guide and Vietnames are friendly. The cruises is comfort and beautifull. I have a good trip. Thanks